I wipe the small, petty, vindictive venom from your lips Sanitize the air polluted by them I will clip your fangs if I have to This is not the legacy we will pass on Your wounds Claw marks and ripped skin Will not mar youthful innocence And loving hearts They will continue to know a loving embrace And soft kisses for as long as possible Before the ugliness and cruelty of the world Changes them forever You will not speed them toward that end -gws
Knocked off my feet Tumbled and tossed Disoriented Lost Struggling Fighting Failing Unable to know up from down Gasping and desperate Threatened Panicked Scared *relax* *float* *you can ALWAYS float* I still myself Relax Trust Know And begin to ascend Freed from the struggle that was threatening me And distracting me from remembering my power Surrendering to acceptance isn't giving up or in It's accepting that it's okay to let go of the fight If it allows you to care for yourself It's having faith that divinity will help you with Rest of the heavy lifting Be present Be peaceful Be silent Be gentle Be... Just Be And the rest will work itself out -gws
All we can do is make the next right choice
Sometimes, that choice is easy
Sometimes it is the hardest thing you can do
What do you do when you get to the end of the map
Where do you go when you can’t go back
And forward is so uncertain
You know there is something beyond
But you don’t know what it looks like
How hard it’s going to be
Because there’s no way it can be easy
The unknown is rarely easy
-gws
Rage is dark rust red like clotted blood
Balled fists and hot tears
White hot like molten iron
Sharp and vicious as a cooled blade
Shrill keening and worn out sobs
Forged into quiet, constantly simmering fury
Long, silent, anguished screams into pillows
And inside lonely vehicles at 60 miles per hour
With the music turned up loud to drown out the ragged
Sound shaking free of its mooring
Now a million dancing embers
Just waiting for the right bluster to ignite again
-gws
Do I exist in the space between your thoughts
Am I squeezed in as an annotation to your chaos
Do I fit in the emptiness between your heartbeats
Or the space between your breaths
Am I shoved into the shadowed alcoves of your mind
All I know is it’s dark and apocalyptic here
Where ever here is
-gws
Words stolen from my throat before my mouth gives them shape and purpose
Volumptous thoughts sucked dry of all of their sweet volume like withered grapes on the vine
Black storm clouds ripple my calm waters, sending me reeling with frustration
Being asked to be less
Say less
Need less
Take less space
I am twisted, muted, and bound inside myself
Trying to survive loving you
With your barbed wire, landmines, arrows, blades, and poisons
Maybe one day you’ll stop listening to your own voice long enough to hear mine
Or all you will hear is the silence that signifies my absence
-gws
An “I-statement” focuses on your own feelings and experiences. It does not focus on your perspective of what the other person has done or failed to do.
Office of the Boston University Ombuds
I am human
I am exhausted
I have a right to say no
I am not harming others when I am being my authentic self
I am an ally not an enemy
I do not want to be a vessel for holding pain that is not my own
I need to be treated respectfully
-gws
Self: Why are you doing this?
Me: What do you mean? Doing what?
Self: Really? You are not THAT oblivious.
Me: Stop being bitchy, and just say what you mean.
Self: Why are you putting up with this bull shit? Why are you allowing someone else to place their misery on you?
Me: I don’t know.
Self: How can you possibly not know?
Me: Look. This was not what I thought I was signing up for. This was not how I expected to be living. THIS is not what I wanted.
Self: Yeah. So what are you going to do about it?
Me: I don’t know.
Self: Well you better figure it the fuck out, because I’m sick of the shit you put up with.
Me: So am I
Words Wishes and Wisdom 